"We kept (Portland) to four chances in the first two periods," Bridgeport coach Scott Pellerin said. "They walked away with two goals."

Andy Miele scored in the first and Brett Hextall tacked one on in the second, keeping Bridgeport without a win in five games and with just one, in a shootout, in eight. Not counting the shootout-bonus goal, it has scored 12 goals in those eight games.

Attendance was 4,525 after a UConn women's basketball game in the afternoon drew over 9,000. Arena staff got the building changed over from basketball to hockey in about three hours, beginning a dry cut of the ice at 5 p.m. and flooding 15 minutes later.

The building was still warm, though Pellerin didn't think conditions were much different than usual.

"(With conditions like that), you've got to get pucks to the net. You've got to get guys in front of the goalie," Bridgeport winger Anders Lee said.

"You're not going to win many games not getting any of that going.

"We've got to help Kenny (Reiter, Bridgeport's goalie) out. He had a great game for the second game in a row."

Reiter stopped 23 Portland shots; he made 31 of 33 in a 4-1 loss (two empty-netters) at Manchester on Friday, the day he signed his first NHL contract with the Sound Tigers' parent New York Islanders.

Miele scored on something of a fortuitous bounce. Jordan Szwarz's pass deflected off Scott Mayfield on goal. Reiter swatted it away toward the right circle but right onto Miele's stick. Miele fired it home.

Hextall scored on a rush, beating backchecking Alan Quine to the rebound of a Corey Trivino shot. For Trivino, a 2008 Islanders draft pick who wasn't signed, it was his first AHL point.

Otherwise, Bridgeport controlled the puck deep for some long shifts and outshot the Pirates 31-25, but they never solved Domingue.

Seeking a spark after scoring just one late power-play goal Friday, Bridgeport shuffled its lines, splitting Lee and Mike Halmo for the first time since October, putting Lee with Andrew Clark and Pierre-Marc Bouchard. Lee had a team-best four shots.

"We're just trying to get energy out there," Lee said. "We're all out there trying to make plays and feed off each other. Right now, unfortunately, we're not doing enough of that."